New books by Theresa Rebeck, Michael Waldman and Mona Awad

I’M GLAD ABOUT YOU, by Theresa Rebeck. The playwright (“Omnium Gatherum”) and creator of the TV show “Smash” returns to fiction with this bright and breezy novel, about the fortunes of a Midwestern actress in New York and Hollywood, and her Cincinnati ex, now a pediatrician who has married unhappily. You see where this is going. (Putnam, $27)

THE FIGHT TO VOTE, by Michael Waldman. In this strangest of election years, it’s worth remembering that the right to vote has, from the inception of American democracy, been a subject of intense debate. This book traces that debate — over who can vote, and how — from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 through the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and up to the present day. (Simon & Schuster, $28)

13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A FAT GIRL, by Mona Awad. This debut collection of stories looks at women’s body image issues with wit and sensitivity. Across 13 tales, the reader gets to know Lizzie — the “fat girl” of the title — who grows up overweight and awkward and manages, through extreme diets, to transform herself into a thin adult. Surprise: It doesn’t solve all her problems. (Penguin, $16 paper)